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INTERNAZIONALI BNL D'ITALIA (MEN)

May 5, 2008

Andy Murray

ROME, ITALY

A. MURRAY/J. Del Potro
5-7, 6-4, 1-0 (ret)

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Is it fair to say there was a little bit of everything out there tonight?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I said to Miles and Alex I felt like I was actually hitting the ball really, really well, but like just like not thinking at all.
Put in two good points and then three or four stupid shots and like didn't think that much about tactics. But I felt like I was hitting the ball really well, I wasn't mishitting balls. I was just not really thinking as much as I should have been.
I don't know if it was just -- obviously it was quite tough conditions, but the rain delay and sort of obviously going on late and not much atmosphere, you know, that probably contributed to it a little bit. But it was, you know, kind of strange mindset in the match.

Q. He's probably quite tough to play against, isn't he, very talented ball-striker?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, he's had some good wins, and I think he's been injured for quite a which of the this year. You know, but he played -- he obviously qualified winning two good matches: He beat Benjamin Becker 1-1 in the final round and beat Andreev last week, who is a very good clay-courter as well.
So he, you know, plays well on clay. Yeah, I mean, he's a tough guy to play. He's got such long reach and hits the ball very clean, you know, as well as -- definitely a tough guy to beat.

Q. Did you feel by the time he suffered his mishap you were getting on top?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I felt I was, yeah, for sure playing better. I was starting to return a bit better and my shot selection improved. You know, at the end the second set, it started to get better and starting mixing in some serve and volley and coming to the net a bit more.
You know, kind of, I think, threw him off his rhythm a little bit which, you know, stopped him from being able to dictate the points like he probably was for the majority of the first set.

Q. Can you just take us through the one or two controversial things that happened out there? I think we get the gist of the first one, but the second one when you and Fergus were having quite a long conversation about something we thought involved Juan Martin.
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, basically, I mean, I've never said that -- I've always been open and saying that I swear on court sometimes louder than I should. But, no chance I swore there. I've never once disputed getting a warning for an audible obscenity before.
You know, but it's a little bit unfortunate when you don't swear and the umpire thinks you say something else. It's, you know -- I mean, you got -- I was obviously going to argue it because I didn't swear.
You know, the second one, it was like 4-All in the second set and I hit a -- played serve and volley and hit a bad volley in the middle of the service box and he came in and hit a full-power backhand straight at my head.
You know, I would have thought that it's normal to, you know, apologize for something like that. I've known him since we were 13 and 14, and, you know, to get an apology was a little bit disappointing.
So, yeah, maybe after that the next two or three points I was maybe shouting, Come on a little bit more than I usually do. But, you know, I think I was not very happy with getting the ball aimed at my head and not getting any sort of an apology.
Yeah, got a bit of emotion into the match, and at the change of ends he said something that's -- I'm not going to go into too much detail, but for me it was completely unacceptable.
You know, told him he better watch his mouth. And then, yeah, I mean, it was maybe a good thing for me. I wanted to win so much more after that.
You know, I thought -- started thinking a little bit more. You know, I didn't feel like I was going lose the match after that point.

Q. Apparently Sky was saying it was something to do with your mother. That's what the microphones picked up.
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, he said something about my mum, yeah.

Q. You wouldn't appreciate that, I guess.
ANDY MURRAY: Someone saying something about your mother who is one of the nicest ladies you're ever going to meet? I don't think that's really that cool.
You know, he can say whatever he wants to me. I know that, you know, regardless of how people think I behave on court I've only had one problem ever in my 16o matches on the tour, because I don't scream come on into my opponents' faces and I don't say anything to them when I'm walking by them. I've never had one problem in all of my matches.
You know, so I was a little bit disappointed when someone said something about my mum, you know, on the court. I don't think -- I mean, he can say whatever he wants to me. I don't care. I've had a lot of bad things said about me before. Didn't really bother me.
I think when you start to talking about one's family they're going to naturally not take that too well?

Q. Did you complain to the umpire about that?
ANDY MURRAY: Oh, when the umpire -- when he said it to me I just said basically said, What are you doing? Watch your mouth. You don't say stuff like that on the court.
He just said , Leave it until after the match. And I said, You warned me for not even swearing at the start of the match, and this guy is talking about my family and, you know, you're not going to do anything about that?
And he said, Well, you know, wait until after the match or something. That was the only thing I was arguing about. I think that merits a warning.

Q. Have you got on okay with him prior to this?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, I mean, I've known him since we were 13 and 14. He's asked me to play doubles and I speak to him on the Internet sometimes. I think we had a problem once maybe. Like he said something to me after a match like at the French Open juniors.
But, yeah, I mean, we've been fine. Yeah, I mean, nothing like what happened on the court tonight had never happened before.

Q. In a sense can it get you almost fired up for the rest the tournament, something like that?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah.

Q. I mean, because you came from behind quite a lot tonight.
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I did have to come from behind a lot. Yeah, I think the first round is always tough whoever your playing against, because, I mean, I hadn't practiced at 9:00 at night for a long time and hadn't played in conditions as heavy as that before.
Naturally you're not going to be feeling 100% confident going into the match like you do once you get deeper into the tournament. So it gives you more confidence you come through a match like that. Even though you're not maybe playing your best, you still get another chance to do better in the next match, and hopefully when the courts are a little bit quicker.

Q. How do you feel about your next opponent, Wawrinka?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, he's one of my best friends on the tour. I was going to play doubles with him this week. Yeah, lost against him a couple times when I was younger, and then I beat him a couple times this year. Always been tough matches. He played very well in Barcelona last week. It's going to be a difficult match.
He's a strong guy and hits the ball hard on both wings and serves well, you know, so I'm going to have to change my tactics a little bit and think a little bit clearer out there if I'm going to come through that one.

Q. Do you think clay is one of his better surfaces.
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, he's had good results on clay. But apart from grass he's played well on most surfaces. He's a pretty solid all-courter. He plays good on clay.
I don't know. I mean, he's probably a better one to ask, but he does play well on clay and has good results. Probably one of his best surfaces.

End of FastScripts

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